[arin-discuss] No quorum in last election

[ARIN agrees that discussion to recall Board members, to conduct
investigations of ARIN expenditures, and to stop certain ARIN
expenditures does not violate the ARIN AUP.]

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

> I would like to request that the membership list be reviewed before
> any further voting.  It is my belief that the membership list is
> inaccurate and that at least 990  (nine hundred and ninety) of the names
> on the membership list belong to people who are no longer employed by
> their organizations and belong to organizations that are defunct, 
> and thus are no longer qualified to be on the list of members.

Where did you get this list of people? The list on the website does not
list the names of people, but the names of companies.
But even if the people on whatever list you have are no longer employed,
their former company is still an ARIN member.  So your claim about
people "no longer employeed" doesn't seem to have merit.  But I'd like
to know where you found a list of names.  Contact names and member
postal addresses are a necessary part of the right of members to contact
other members, but ARIN doesn't seem to have that data on the web.

It seems strangely coincident that you think 990 (exactly the number
that must be removed to make a quorum with 196 votes) should be removed
from the membership roll. Where did you get this number? Please post the
990 names you've collected.

> Regardless of whether a network or business paid dues or a fee at one
> time that put them on the membership roles, if they are bankrupt or
> defunct or have ceased operations, they no longer exist as an entity,
> and a nonexistent entity cannot be a member.

Merely being in bankruptcy or having ceased network operations doesn't
terminate membership.

> Suggestions to make changes to the bylaws are not appropriate at this
> time.  Bylaw changes require an existing board, and since the
> legitimacy of the existing board is at question, it cannot make bylaw
> changes.

Bylaw changes do not require a Board under the Virginia statute. The
membership can vote bylaws in directly. The Board can make changes only
to those bylaws that the membership has not exempted from change by the
Board. It doesn't work the other way around.

If it could work the other way around, to make it work the way you want
would require specification in the articles of incorporation, and there
is no such specification in the ARIN articles.

Of course, the obvious problem when the membership can't make changes
directly is that the organization is stuck if the Board resigns (or is
removed) en mass. Its not a good idea, and it isn't the case at present 
for ARIN.


		--Dean



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